Every year to kick off Alumni Weekend, Hackley’s Girls Varsity Soccer team plays on Friday night under the lights in the Dave Allison Game, honoring Dave Allison, their former coach who passed away from cancer. The Dave Allison game is also a part of October’s Think Pink series of games.
In October, Hackley’s Varsity Field Hockey team and Girls Varsity Soccer teams wear their pink jerseys throughout the month to bring awareness to the cause, detection, and treatment of breast cancer. To bring more light to the cause, Hackley kicked off Dave Allison Game festivities a little earlier, giving all students a “Think Pink” themed dress-down day on Friday, Oct 17th.
Later that night, the girls honored Mr. Allison, whom the team called “Mr. A,” bringing awareness to the causes of cancer. Under the lights, the girls ended up playing into overtime, tying Riverdale 1-1.
On Saturday, the bulk of Alumni Day’s events took place, starting with a meeting among Alumni in the morning. At noon, lunch was served in the dining hall, with tables set up to allow alumni from each class to reconnect with each other while eating a variety of hot entrees, with slices of apple and pumpkin pie for dessert.
Many student ambassadors helped run the event with the guidance of Margie Ford, Director of Alumni Engagement.
Alumni participated in many workshops and classes, with middle school mathematics teacher Oshon Temple hosting a bottle rocket workshop,art teacher Sarah Coble offering an art class to alumni, and upper school science Teacher Tessa Johnson hosting the Art King nature trail walk. Student Ambassadors were also on campus to give tours and offer guidance, notably leading alumni through sections of the new Center for Creative Arts and Technology.
At 2:00 p.m. the Varsity Boys Soccer team kicked off Saturday’s slate of Varsity games, engaging in a hard-fought game, but eventually fell to Riverdale 1-0 on a last-minute goal.
Later at 2:30 p.m., the Varsity Field Hockey team kicked off their game by honoring the 2004 undefeated Field Hockey team, and athlete, junior Calliope Yannuzzi gave a speech honoring her mom, who survived a battle with cancer. The Field Hockey team played their hearts out, with senior Devyn O’Callaghan scoring three and junior Fiona Pedraza scoring the other, out of the Hornet’s four goals, in a 4-1 win.
Varsity Football finished out the weekend, playing at 3:00 p.m. with an undefeated season on the line. Hackley rose up to the challenge, with a spectacular touchdown catch by senior Will Belleville in triple coverage, as Hackley won 35-16, ending their undefeated regular season 7-0 with a playoff berth.
In a weekend that started in recognition of Dave Allison, ended in a playoff-clinching victory for the varsity football team, with Alumni satisfied from meetings and workshops throughout campus.
